Allusion was made to one of these statements, in the article on "The Church Question" in our last number: and since the article was written, the friends of the Board-system in the Assembly have talked still more loosely about the liberty of the Church under the Gospel, as if the bondage of the Jew consisted in being guided by the law of God, and the liberty of the Christian in being emancipated from all law. Such broad assertions indicate a sad deficiency of attention to the principle upon which all Protestantism is based, to wit: that the Bible is not only the rule, but a sufficient rule, and that no discretionary power in the ordinary sense, is given to the Church. We deem it important to notice the statement referred to, in order to call attention to the doctrine of our Confession in the premises. The statement is this:

"Others hold that while Christ has prescribed certain principles relating to the organization of the Church, He has left much, as to the details, discretionary. This is the common opinion of Protestants, and especially of Presbyterians: and whether recognized in thesi or not, is practically acted upon by every religious denomination on earth."

Upon this statement, we remark-First, that it is extremely vague and indefinite and there could be no better evidence of its vagueness, than the fact alleged, that while it is "especially" the doctrine of Presbyterians, it "is acted upon by every religious denomination on earth." Second, that on account of its vagueness, it is liable to endless abuse, as is evident from the fact, that "every religious denomination on earth" acts upon it. The Church of Rome for example-which, according to the same high authority, has something more than a mere religious denomination-has made herself drunk with the blood of thousands who would not submit to her authority about details. Who shall determine what are principles, and what matters of detail? The statement is liable to abuse in somewhat the same manner as the common distinction, touching fundamentals and non-fundamentals in doctrine. It will do, as a rule of charity by which to judge others, but is dangerous, if acted upon for ourselves. If a man-to borrow an illustration—should lose one or all his limbs, we might still acknowledge him to be a man, to possess the essential elements of humanity: but it would be a very serious affair to cut off our own limbs, to ascertain whether, after the curtailment of our proportions, we might not still be living men. A gangrene might kill us. If we determine for ourselves, that any doctrine or ordinance is a mere matter of detail, and, therefore, of little consequence, the state of mind is a morbid one, and may be fatal. The principle has been abused in our own Church, which "especially" holds it. She is extending her details: she is increasing her power, and "enlarging the area of freedom:" she would undertake to educate her children in all secular learning, and, by parity of reasoning, will before long, consider the expediency of establishing ecclesiastical workshops. We should not be surprised, if the institution of refectories and wardrobes for the children, were one day

She will then be a Third, that the doc

discovered to be one of the details of her organization, and, as in ancient Sparta, the only office of parents turn out to be, that of supplying the Church with subjects for her care. University in the largest sense of that term. trine of the Presbyterian Church is not to be found in this vague form. In thesi, it is as follows: "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the word: and there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the word, which are always to be observed." (Con. of Faith. C. 1. s. 6.) The proof-texts on this section, in order to save space, we must ask the reader to refer to. (2. Tim. 3: 16, 17; Gal. 1 : 8; 2 Thess. 2: 2; John 6: 45; 1 Cor. 2: 9, 10, 12; 1 Cor. 11: 13, 14; 1 Cor. 14: 26, 40.)

Now the indefinite "details" of the statement which is the object of these remarks, are, in our Confession, (( some circumstances concerning the worship of God and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies." The circumstances here referred to, are the necessary adjuncts of human actions, such as time and place, decency and order. If there is to be social worship, there must be, as in assemblies for any purpose, an agreement as to the time and place. Every deliberative body, whether of human or divine constitution, must have a presiding officer. The fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians, as also the eleventh, which are referred to in this section of the Confession, in the way of proof and illustration, show what the book means by "circumstances." Our fathers

A very clear statement of the essential difference between these "circumstances," and those additions to the worship of God and government of the Church, which all true Protestants have united in condemning, may be found in the Spirit of the XIXth Century for 1842, p. 152, et seq. The writer quotes the following from Owen's Discourse, on Liturgies, "a Discourse," he says, "which, mutatis mutandis, may just as conclusively be applied to Boards." Circumstances," says Owen, "are either such as follow actions as actions, or such as are arbitrarily superadded and adjoined by command unto actions, which do not of their own accord, nor naturally, nor necessarily attend them. Now religious actions in the worship of God, are actions still. Their religious relation doth not destroy their natural being. Those circumstances, then, which do attend such actions as actions, not determined by Divine institution, may be ordered, disposed of and regulated by the prudence of men. For instance, prayer is a part of God's worship: public prayer is so as appointed by Him. This, as it is an action to be performed by man, cannot be done without the assignment of time and place, and sundry other things, if order and conveniency be attended. *** There are also some things which some men call circumstances also, that no way belong of themselves to the actions whereof they are said to be the circumstances, nor do attend them, but are imposed on them or annexed to them, by the arbitrary authority of those who take upon them to give order and rules in such cases." (Works, vol. 19th, p. 437.) To the same purpose, Calvin, Instit. B. 4. c. 10. Sec. 28, 29, 30.

never dreamed that the formidable institutions called Ecclesiastical Boards, which have usurped functions belonging to the regular courts, and given rise to a practical hierarchy of perilous tendency in the Church, would be introduced as circumstances: that, under the color of the innocent phrases about "worship and goverument,' a stupendous scheme of secular education, which, in principle, involves as extravagant assumptions as the claims of Rome, and, in practice, is injurious alike to the interests of piety and sound learning, would be foisted upon the people of God. We are to be ruled by men not of our own choice; we are to have the Church converted into a university, or a mongrel something which is neither one nor the other; something which will be a feeble Church, and a very indifferent university, because, forsooth, there are some "circumstances common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence!" With how much more reason might the General Assembly ordain the use of Liturgies, according to the wishes of some brethren, or the use of organs and fiddles in singing the praises of God! These are mere "circumstances" compared with our system of Boards, and an indefinite number of Colleges, Academies and Schools.

Many other illustrations occur to us, of the leading topic of this article, but they must be deferred for want of space. In conclusion, let us remember that it is the design as well as the tendency of the Gospel, to honor God, and to pour contempt upon the glory of man ; and all its arrangements are subordinate to this end. The most splendid exhibition of the wisdom of God, it nevertheless presents, to the wisdom of men, the aspect of folly, in order that they may feel the necessity of becoming fools that they may be wise. Human wisdom, in seeking its own ends, must have an apparatus commensurate with the greatness of the result to be achieved. Faith, in seeking to advance the glory of God, is satisfied with His institutions, however insignificant, despicable, powerless they may appear to be, and in themselves are:-because they are His, and He has made them what they are, that the excellency of the power, and consequently, the glory of success may be acknowledged to be His.* The most worthless instruments, wielded by commission from God, will do more execution, than the best appointed armies of mere human equipment. Further, let us remember that it is the misplaced wisdom of good men, that has done the most serious mischief in the Church in all generations. We are in little danger of listening to the suggestions of the arch-adversary, when they come to us through his own servants. "In God's name"-the German proverb hath it -"all mischief begins." Once more-let us remember that this boasted liberty of the Church to make laws, seeing that it is a liberty in the hands of the Church officers, and chiefly in the hands of the

* To all assertions, that the work of the Church cannot be done in any other way than it is done, we might reply in the very words of our Saviour-"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God" or in the words of Paul-"Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?''

clergy, has the effect of circumscribing the liberty of the people. It will always be found, that, in the Church which makes the freest use of its own discretion about details," the body of the people I will be the most enslaved. When Paul cries to the Galatians"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free"-he refers to the dangers which threatened that liberty, from the freedom with which their teachers enacted observances. The abstractions of a constitution are the only bulwarks of human liberty, in Church or State.

THE GOSPEL IDEA OF PREACHING.

FROM the days of Enoch, who prophesied, (Jude 14,) and of Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, (II Peter 2: 5,) to our day, God has employed "the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe." To us, who hold that "the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants," both the warrant for preaching, as a religious ordinance, and the model for its performance, must be given from the word of God. The patriarchs, the prophets, probably the Aaronic priests, and the pious kings, preached to Israel. But the first full description of the nature of the exercise is the oft-cited passage from Nehemiah, 8: 1-8, when Ezra and his associates "read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." Here we have the true scriptural idea of the preacher's function; to make the people understand what is in God's word. The Christian minister's commission is in these words: "Preach the word; (herald the word;) be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine." (II Tim. 4: 2.) The object of preaching is the salvation of the soul; and that salvation consists in a redemption from the guilt, love, and practice of iniquity. The instrument of this redemption is God's truth, as he has revealed it. "Sanctify them through thy truth." The preacher is most explicitly called a Herald: that is, the deliverer of a message. Now the herald does not make his message: he merely transmits it. He has nothing to do with judging its wisdom or fitness; let him simply proclaim it as it is given to him. This was God's command to an Ancient Preacher: "Arise; go unto Nineveh, that great city; and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." (Jonah 3: 2.)

Or, the preacher's office may be illustrated by the work of one who uses a die put into his hands, to form impressions on some plastic substance. The sinful soul is that substance. The word of God is the die; and the divine image of knowledge and true holiness is the impression to be formed. God, who made man's soul, and therefore knows it, made the die; and of course he best knew how to

The Gospel Idea of Preaching.

[July,

make it, to produce the impression He desired. Now the workman's business is not to criticize, re-carve, or alter the die which is committed to him; but simply to press it down, upon the substance to be shaped. In this view, how plain is it, that all preaching must be accurately representative of Bible truth, and in Bible proportions? Else it is not God's work. The preacher's business is, simply to take what he finds in the Scriptures, and as he finds it, and press it down upon the understandings, hearts, and consciences of men. Nothing else is his business as a preacher. The die is just so sharp and hard; so large, and so perfect, as God would have it. He judged it was the right die to produce the impression he intends. This is enough for us. none will dispute, who are known as evangelical christians. But if Here we have a few obvious truths which we are not mistaken, they contain the following deductions, by which many things very prevalent in the practice of persons considering themselves evangelical, are condemned.

ences.

1. Not only must Bible topics form the whole subject matter of preaching, but they must be presented in Scriptural aspects and proportions. God made the Bible for the people: not raw material which the religious philosopher is to work over into new forms. Here is a simple and admitted fact, which is full of neglected inferThe book of God is not like the book of creation, a mixed and crude mass of the ore of knowledge, which must become the subject of scientific re-arrangement, to become intelligible to common minds. The Bible is for the people; this is the great principle of Protestants. And this implies that God, who knew best, has set forth the truth he purposed to apply, in such forms and aspects as, he knew, would best suit the human mind. There can be no other forms of presentation so suitable to the people; because God has chosen these. "The preacher's business is just to show the people what is in the Bible," as God has there set it forth.

2. These principles cut up by the roots, the whole fashion of preaching up the times;" as it was quaintly called by our Scotch forefathers. If the preacher's business is the redemption of the soul, and his instrument is Bible truth, it is plain that he has no business in the pulpit, with Nebraska bills, Abolitionism, politics, Eastern questions, and all the farrago of subjects, with which infidel ministers of christianity essay to eke out, as they suppose, the deficient interest and power of the message of salvation. siness in the pulpit is to make christians; and not to make free-soilThe Preacher's buers, Maine-law-men, statesmen, historians, or social philosophers. His message from the pulpit is that which God has put into his mouth, and nothing else. The question may be asked:" Are Bible principles never to be applied, then, to the correction of the social evils of the day, by those who are the appointed expounders of the Bible ??? So far as God so applies them in the Bible, yes; but no farther. Let the Preacher take the application of the principles, as well as the principles applied, from the word of God: let him take, not only his